Culinary Travel: Find an Amish menu at Yoder’s in Sarasota

SARASOTA,Fla.— It’s 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday in October — well past lunch, and theslowest time of year in Sarasota, where the beautiful Gulf Coast beaches aremost crowded in winter and spring.

Butthe line for “homestyle Amish food” at Yoder’s Restaurant is out the door, witha 45-minute wait for a table. Salivating customers snake past a sign listingvarieties of pie as waitresses walk by carrying trays heaped with friedchicken.

Yoder’sis located in Pinecraft, an Amish-Mennonite neighborhood that swells in thecold months as buses bring visitors from Amish and Mennonite communities inOhio and Indiana. Its comfort-food menu reflects traditional Amish home-cookingwith yummy staples like noodles, pot roast, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Butthe food is prepared with a light touch, avoiding the oversalted goo andblandness that gives this type of cooking a bad name.

Themenu is also sprinkled with surprises you don’t expect to find at an Amishrestaurant: Asian chicken salad, “Amish quesadillas” (chicken, cheese andmushrooms), and a salad of mixed greens, crumbled gorgonzola cheese and driedcranberries. Breakfast includes a veggie Benedict — spinach, tomato, andavocado with hollandaise sauce and fresh fruit on the side.

Nomeal here is complete without trying Yoder’s famous pie, which comes in twodozen varieties. The most popular flavor is peanut butter, with layers ofcrunchy peanut butter topping and vanilla pudding. Also popular are coconut,banana cream, strawberry and chocolate peanut butter. Some varieties are offeredseasonally, like mincemeat.

Insome parts of the country where the Amish spurn modern ways, you’ll findhorse-and-buggies plying the roads, but here the only horse and buggy is amodel in Yoder’s parking lot. Local adherents of the faith instead get aroundon three-wheel bikes, which form a virtual parade in some parts of town inwinter.

Pinecraftis also famous for its post office, which the Amish community bought from theU.S. Postal Service after the branch was scheduled to close, and for its simplechurch, called the Tourist Church. Both are just a block or two from Yoder’s.The TLC network has even filmed some of its “Breaking Amish” episodes inPinecraft. The reality show looks at young people who were raised Amish andMennonite as they experience life outside those communities and decide whetherto go back to them.

Yoder’s,which opened in 1975, has a gift shop and produce market onsite as well. Therestaurant seats 130 people but on a busy day in peak season routinely serves1,500. Customers are a mix of locals and tourists, and only a few are Amish.It’s not unusual to hear all kinds of languages spoken on the line to get in;some vacationers will drive an hour from Tampa-St. Petersburg or even two hoursfrom Orlando to eat here.

Andafter putting away all that fried chicken, noodles and pie — or, if you must, asalad — there’s no better way to enjoy the rest of your day in Sarasota than atSiesta Key beach, just a short drive — or three-wheeled bike ride — away.